Development 

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Developmental Psychology
Branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout lifespan
  • • Major issues/questions
  • • -Nature and nurture
    • • How does our genetic inheritance (nature) interact with our experiences (our nurture) to influence our development?
  • • -Continuity and stages
    • • What parts of development are gradual and which come abruptly ?
  • • -Stability and change
    • • Which of our traits persist through life and how do we change as we age?
Maturation
  • • Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior.
  • • Some changes are genetic
  • • Some changes are due to the environment
  • • The most neurological growth is seen from ages 3 to 6
The Newborn
  • • Reflex -an automatic, unlearned response
    • • Sucking, swallowing and grasping reflexes are present in a newborn
  • • Rooting Reflex
  • • A baby’s tendency, when touched on the cheek, to open the mouth and search for the nipple.
  • • Temperament
  • • A person’s characteristic emotional excitability.
  • • A child might be: An “easy” or “difficult” baby
  • • Temperament shown in infancy appears to carry through a person’s life.

Infant, Toddler, Child
  • • Infant: First year
  • • Toddler: From about 1 year to 3 years of age
  • • Child: Span between toddler and teen
Physical Development
  • • Motor Development
  • • Includes all physical skills and muscular coordination
  • • Learning to walk
Cognitive Development


Jean Piaget (pee-ah-ZHAY)
  • • Pioneer in the study of developmental psychology
  • • Introduced a stage theory of cognitive development that led to a better understanding of children’s thought processes.




Cognition
  • • All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering.
  • • Children think differently than adults do
Schemas
  • • Concepts or mental frameworks that people use to organize and interpret information.
  • • Sometimes called schemes
  • • A person’s “picture of the world”
Assimilation
  • • Interpreting a new experience within the context of existing schemas.
  • • The new experience is similar to other previous experiences
Accommodation
  • • Adapting current schemas to incorporate new information.
  • • The new experience is so novel the person’s schemata must be changed to accommodate it